


Bullets

by castielofasgard



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Canonical Character Death, Gen, One Shot, ok so there's not really any actual hawksilver but it's me so it's implied, pietro's pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 15:58:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5671759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castielofasgard/pseuds/castielofasgard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It happened too fast. Pietro didn't have a choice, because letting Clint Barton die wasn't option.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bullets

**Author's Note:**

> yeah, we all know i'm the queen of denying pietro maximoff's death. but i had to write this fic.

The city was nearly empty, all the civilians loaded onto the boats. Pietro was about to go back to the church for Wanda when he heard it – machine gun fire. He looked up and saw the Avengers’ quinjet soaring low over the city, a hail of bullets exploding from its guns. He could just see the silvery glint of metal and glowing red eyes through the windshield. Ultron. Of course that bastard would find a way to screw things up when they had nearly won. 

Pietro hurried closer, careful to stay undercover so he wouldn’t get shot. There was an open square up ahead, littered with debris, where people had gathered to get onto SHIELD’s boats. One of the boats was still parked at the edge of the floating city, waiting for the Avengers to get on board. No wait, that wasn’t right. The Avengers had the quinjet – or they had a moment ago before Ultron highjacked it – they didn’t need the boat. It should have already left for the helicarrier. Pietro darted to the edge of the square, just out of harm’s way, and his heart skipped a beat. Not everyone was on the boat.

Clint Barton was across the square, a small boy in his arms. And the quinjet was getting closer, still raining fire on the city. Pietro glanced up at the quinjet then back at Clint. He and the boy were completely in the open with no time to get to cover. In a matter of seconds, Ultron would shoot them both down. Pietro didn’t have time to weigh his options. If it had been just the boy, or even just Clint, he might have been able to dash in there and carry them to safety. But there was no chance of him carrying both of them, it would slow him down too much and then three people would be dead. No, better to keep it to one.

He ran across the square just as Clint turned to shield the boy. He wouldn’t know what saved him until it was too late. Pietro skidded to a halt between Clint and the bullets just in time. Pietro was no stranger to physical pain, but this was new. He could feel every single bullet tear through him inch by inch, through skin and muscle, ten in all. He could feel which ones ripped through the other side and which ones stayed lodged inside him. The bullets seemed to move so agonizingly slow through his body and it was all he could do to keep from crying out.

Everything was unnaturally quiet for a moment. Then Clint turned around, and the look on his face broke Pietro’s quickly failing heart. His vision was starting to go fuzzy around the edges and he knew he didn’t have much time. Swaying unsteadily, Pietro looked Clint in the eye and gave him a small, weak smile.

“You didn’t see that coming?” he said, trying and failing to keep the pain from his voice.

Then his legs gave out. As he fell, he felt a distant but overwhelming wave of grief wash over him, burning red.

_Wanda...._

The last thing he knew was Clint’s stunned face and the echo of a gut-wrenching scream.


End file.
